Spain's Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega and Sofia Toro ripped apart the women's match racing form book at the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition to win gold in spectacular style.

Their no holds barred approach and fearless style of match racing in the high pressure Olympic sailing environment saw the Spaniards, ranked #8 in the world, sail an emphatic round robin series where they picked up key victories against pre-event favourites. Thrown in at the deep end on the opening day, they breezed through their matches against 2010 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Champion Lucy Macgregor (GBR) and World #1 Anna Tunnicliffe and never looked back.

Light work was made of the experienced Claire Leroy (FRA) in the Quarter Finals and they overturned an early loss against Ekaterina Skudina (RUS) in the Semi Finals. They squared up against the Australian team in an epic big wind final where they elements played as much a part of the drama as their opponents.

The pendulum swung back and forth as the crews entertained 5,000 expectant spectators on the Nothe. With the scores locked at 2-2 it all came down to a nail biting winner takes all decider and Echegoyen, Pumariega and Toro held their nerve to take the ultimate prize.

Joining Echegoyen, Pumariega and Toro as female nominees for ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2012 are Helena Lucas (GBR), Saskia Sills (GBR) and Lijia Xu (CHN).

The Voting
The winners are selected by the ISAF Member National Authorities (MNAs), the national governing bodies for sailing around the world. The MNAs are now invited to vote for the male and female nominee they believe most deserves the Award.

The winners will be announced at the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards presentation and dinner, taking place on Tuesday 6 November 2012. The venue for the event is the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland.

Each winner will be presented with the prestigious ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award Trophy and a distinctive Rolex timepiece.

Full profiling of each nominee and their achievements will continues through to 10 October on the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards microsite at www.sailing.org/worldsailor.

Tom Burton (AUS) and Alison Young (GBR) hit the right note in the Laser and Laser Radial at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as they took out the top honours and qualification spots to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final.

It was double Australian gold in the Paralympic classes. Matt Bugg (AUS) came out on top in the 2.4mR whilst London 2012 Paralympic SKUD18 gold medallists Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) were triumphant in the two person keelboat.

Lithuania's Juozas Bernotas came out on top in the Men's RS:X whilst Russia's Stefania Elfutina was triumphant in the Women's RS:X. Both sailors claim the first Abu Dhabi ISAF Sailing World Cup Final spots whilst Jock Calvert (AUS) and Joanna Sterling (AUS) picked up the Oceanic spots for the Emirati finale.

There was some fast paced action in the 49er and 49erFX Medal Races at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen (AUS) and Maia & Ragna Agerup (NOR) claimed the honours and Abu Dhabi final spots.

A tight group of five young Papua New Guinean (PNG) Laser sailors are stepping up their 2015 Pacific Games competition program using this week's ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne. PNG is one of 33 countries represented at the important Oceanic event, the largest Olympic sailing regatta in the southern hemisphere.

Melbourne, Australia will host the final Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification regatta in 2015. With just under one year until the event, the 2015 IFDS Worlds was launched at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne kick starts the journey to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates with qualification spots and top ranking points available in the Australian city.

Shawn Bennett (USA) won the Long Beach Stop of the 2015 California Dreamin' Series Sunday in this International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 3 match racing regatta hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and raced on the Long Beach Sailing Foundation's fleet of Catalina 37s.

After the limits of the southern oceans imposed by the combination of the weather systems and the safety barrier of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone, the Atlantic is opening up for the top trio of the Barcelona World Race.